Wednesday, August 8, 2018

A visit to the Guinness Storehouse is one of the most popular things to do in Dublin, whether or not you're Guinness lovers. Growing up in Indonesia, I only remember two imported beers that were sold nationwide: Heineken and Guinness.
The Guinness Storehouse at St. James Gate is originally the fermentation plant of the brewery, built in 1902. It was closed in 1988 and they decided to reopen it as a visitor center. It opened in 2000.

First, though, I had lunch at 1837 Bar & Brasserie, one of the dining options in side the Guinness Storehouse.
I had local oysters with Guinness. If you think this is an unusual pairing, it isn't in Ireland! Oysters and stout was a popular pairing in the 19th century, the maltiness and creaminess of the stout complements the brininess. In fact, the restaurant's name 1837 is taken from the year that the pairing first made headlines.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

What do you do when you're researching an upcoming destination that you're not familiar with? For me, I definitely turn to the Instagram pages of my friends and other travelers, and then I watch TV. Yep, TV.

For my recent trip to Ireland, I looked up the episodes from Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, etc on Ireland. Thankfully, this "research" was painless and buffering-free thanks to the fast Verizon FiOs internet that has now landed in Dorchester.

I had to see what else I should be eating and drinking other than a ton of Guinness!

Unfortunately I couldn't go try all the places Bourdain went to - you can only do so much in 4 days!
The place I did try was Leo Burdock, which is Dublin's oldest "chipper" - what they call a traditional, take-away fish and chips place.